Driven grouse shooting
Some people oppose these practices because of the killing of certain species for the benefit of others, although proponents of managed moorland argue that the species targeted are abundant, whilst those that benefit are of greater conservation importance, including ground-nesting birds such as lapwing, curlew, meadow pipit, golden plover, redshank and woodcock.
Opponents also argue that managed moorland prevents wildness, natural landscapes, forest and bog regeneration, and ecotourism.
It is usually classified as a subspecies of the willow grouse, but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus, found only in the British Isles.
[9] In southern Sweden, this form of hunting is called fjälljakt; the corresponding biome is not managed by burning, but consists of a wooded mosaic, with heather, trees, lakes and bogland.
[10] Its management by, in particular, large wild herbivores such as moose maintains this mosaic as a stable condition, with modest populations of grouse (often hidden from predators in willow thickets) and a rich variety of other species.
[4]: 171–173 Large areas of grouse moor were previously blanket bogs, where sphagnum moss is the dominant vegetation, and drainage is required to allow heather to flourish.
[12] A burned patch of heather allows fresh shoots to grow, which are ideal nutrition for grouse and prevents the build-up of dry plant matter.
[16] This risk is limited to long-established, unnatural heather moorland that is actively burned; wildfires are very rare in the corresponding mosaic biome of southern Sweden.
[22] Burning and predator control correlate with higher densities of red grouse, and also of a few other species that are able to thrive on open heather moors; golden plover, curlew, lapwing, common redshank and ring ouzel.
[23][13][24] The RSPB's Investigations Team reports that in 2017, despite vast swathes of suitable habitat, not a single hen harrier chick was produced on a privately owned grouse moor.
"[27] The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project prevented the persecution of raptors, especially hen harriers, and found that grouse would survive in the presence of a more natural number of predators.
Individual estate employees who kill protected species commit a criminal act, but their employers, the shooting businesses, do not.
A requirement for the businesses to be licensed, on condition of stopping undesirable practices, has been suggested as a way to allow effective protection of predators.
A joint industry statement responded that Scotland already had the UK’s strictest anti-persecution measures and incidents were declining, and further regulation risked closing down grouse moors, with economic loss to gamekeepers and vulnerable rural businesses.
[51] By its closure on 21 September 2016 the petition had attracted 123,077 signatures,[52] triggering a parliamentary debate on the practice, held in Westminster Hall on 31 October 2016.
[53] "Because most of our birds evolved in wooded mosaic habitats, grouse moors, being burned and treeless, with just a fraction of native food plants, stifle most wildlife – most of the time.
"[4]: 167 The main alternatives proposed are: The Revive coalition describes Scotland's grouse moors as "impoverished" and suggests that an increase in woodland and scrub cover and reinstatement of functioning bogs could result in an upland landscape composed of a mosaic of different woodland, scrub and open habitats.
[55] The chief executive of Scottish Land and Estates, which represents many grouse moor owners, said: "It is recommending a complete change in the landscape of Scotland.
"[56] In recent years a few large estates including grouse moors have been managed for the re-establishment of a more natural mosaic of habitats.
Ecotourism is often a component, and ongoing shooting, especially of deer which prevent tree regrowth and in modern Britain have no natural predators, is often essential.
[57] Anders Holch Povlsen's "Wildland" plans for his Scottish estate, some 390 square kilometres in 2019, include restoring their parts of the Highlands "to their former magnificent natural state and repair the harm that man has inflicted on them".
[4]: 130–132 Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Creag Meagaidh, and Glen Affric are further examples of successful management of Scottish wildlife.
